Federal Trial Court Applies ‘First-Filed Rule,’ Transfers a Competing FLSA Collective Action

Where two groups of named plaintiffs file putative collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act seeking to represent the same employees, a federal district court should apply the “first-filed rule” to resolve the conflict, a federal district court in New Jersey ruled June 7 (Abushalieh v. Am. Eagle Express Inc. d/b/a AEX Group).

Judge Jerome B. Simandle of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New Jersey said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has never applied the rule to successive FLSA actions, but Simandle was satisfied that Mohamed Abushalieh’s proposed collective ...